The victims of former USA Gymnastics team physician Larry Nassar reached one of the largest settlements for sex abuse ever recorded on Monday, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
“USA Gymnastics, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and their insurers have agreed to fund a $380 million settlement with victims of longtime national team physician Larry Nassar, drawing to a close a five-year legal battle that has upended American Olympic sports governance,” The Journal reported.
The settlement also includes nonmonetary provisions, “including requirements for self-identified survivors of abuse in gymnastics to have official roles in USA Gymnastics.”
Olympian Jamie Dantzscher was the first to file a civil lawsuit against USA Gymnastics and the USOPC in September 2016, with more than 500 others filing following Dantzscher’s lawsuit.
In May 2018, Michigan State University — which employed Nassar for decades — agreed to settle lawsuits from 332 women against Nassar for $500 million. According to the attorney — reports ESPN —that settlement in addition to Monday’s $380 million settlement makes it the largest in a sexual assault case involving a single perpetrator.
“Survivors have now received a total of $880 million in compensation for their pain and suffering at the hands of this monster and the institutions who enabled him, Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics, and the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee,” said John Manly, the lead attorney representing victims, in a press release. “These organizations spent more than $100 million on corporate lawyers to evade their legal and moral responsibility. We prevailed for one simple reason: the courage and tenacity of the survivors. These brave women relived their abuse publicly, in countless media interviews, so that not one more child will be forced to suffer physical, emotional, or sexual abuse in pursuit of their dreams.”
The news comes three months after Gymnasts Simone Biles, Maggie Nichols, Aly Raisman, and McKayla Maroney shocked Congress, revealing details of the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of the former USA Gymnastics team doctor and blistering the FBI, which they say failed to act on repeated reports from American gymnasts and may have even covered up evidence of an abusive system.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in September examining the FBI’s handling of the Larry Nassar case, in which the four Olympic gymnasts — Biles, Nichols, Raisman, and Maroney — testified about the abuse they suffered under the former Olympic gymnastics doctor’s care and how the FBI failed to act on their reports.
The hearing came days after FBI agent Michael Langeman was fired for failing to pursue an investigation into the gymnasts’ claims.
In July, the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General released a report criticizing Langeman — unnamed at the time — and his boss Jay Abbott for their handling of the Nassar case.
In 2015, Langeman interviewed Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney regarding her allegations that Nassar abused her. The report by the inspector general states that Langeman and Abbot never “officially opened an investigation” and lied to investigators about their actions. The report states that Abbott — who is retired — told the FBI to release false statements in 2017 saying that his office “expeditiously responded” to the allegations against Nassar.
During the hearing, Raisman said that it took over fourteen months for FBI agents to contact her after her report to USAG [USA Gymnastics] in June 2015 that Nassar abused her and that Nassar continued to sexually assault dozens of young women and girls during that time.
FBI Director Christopher Wray apologized in his opening statements for the FBI’s failure to stop Nassar.
“I’m deeply and profoundly sorry to each and every one of you,” Wray said in his opening statement. “I’m sorry for what you and your families have been through. I’m sorry so many people let you down over and over again. And I’m especially sorry there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed, and that is inexcusable. It never should have happened, and we’re doing everything in our power to make sure it never happens again.”
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].